We have to play carefully against Kerala, says Zico

FC Goa will aim to continue their fresh start in their fourth home match against Kerala Blasters FC on Thursday, after tasting all three possible results in their three home games. The Gaurs registered a win, a draw and a disappointing loss before thrashing NorthEast United FC in their first away fixture.

FC Goa marquee coach Zico,reflecting on the last home match said, “ that the 4-0 loss was heartbreaking. Our last result at home wasn’t the best one. But, we had a lot of chances. We had a penalty appeal and a goal not given. If it was 4-3 or 4-2 the loss would not have been a problem but 4-0 was bad,” admitted Zico during his pre-match conference.

Zico acknowledged that most teams were performing well in their away games and said that FC Goa “ would have to play carefully ,” against the Kerala side.

“One thing we noticed is that all the teams are playing well their away games. So we have to be very careful and play our best in order to beat Kerala,” said Zico. “I think the change in formation helped us in the NorthEast,” quipped Zico when asked to comment of the teams performance in the NorthEast.

With Jofre, Sabeeth and Lucio out with injuries, the Gaurs will once again have a different strategy for Kerala Blasters as the Brazilian said that,” the ones to replace them would have to give their best in the formation they would play,” while not disclosing the formation he is going to adopt.“We will have to work with same willingness to fight and give our best,” concluded Zico.

With a positive start to the campaign, Kerala Blasters slumped with two defeats in a row and assistant coach Trevor Morgan considers the match against FC Goa as the ideal opportunity to get back on track.

“We started the season well but we haven’t been consistent in our last two games. Tomorrow’s game is the ideal opportunity to get us back on the winning track,” said Morgan.

“When the next game arrives they have to forget what happened last time and they cant sit and worry about their mistakes,” said Morgan. Kerala had less time to recover as compared to Goa, but the English coach said that he has a big squad. “It’s important that the players get rest. Some of them would think we have dropped them but its not that, we are doing that to give them rest,” said Morgan

Kerala have two injury concerns. Peter Carvalho and Gowinder Singh would miss the action. Though he did not elaborate on whether cavin lobo has a chance to make it to the first eleven, keeping Cavin’s form in Goa may well give him a chance to get into the playing eleven.